The Gamecube was a low-point for Nintendo - financially, at least. It was their poorest-selling home console to date (assuming you're not including the Virtual Boy, because you're a reasonable human being) and it came out at a time where the Playstation 2 was setting all kinds of records, finally providing itself to be Nintendo's greatest challenge yet.

Despite this underdog status (or maybe because of it), the Gamecube's game library ended up being pretty fantastic - Nintendo offered their developers a lot of creative freedom in the hopes of striking a chord with gamers, and it shows. The weirdest main Mario game for a console, a renaissance for Metroid, a game starring Luigi, a new franchise about enslaved bug-creatures, and (arguably) series best entries for Smash Bros. and Mario Kart.